Naram-Sin was a son of
Manishtushu. He was thus a nephew of King
Rimush and grandson of Sargon and
Tashlultum. Naram-Sin's aunt was the High Priestess
Enheduanna. Most recensions of the Sumerian King List show him following Manishtushu but the Ur III version of the king list inverts the order of Rimush and Manishtushu. To be fully correct, rather than Naram-Sin or Naram-Suen "in Old Akkadian, the name in question should rather be reconstructed as Naram-Suyin (more precisely, /narām-tsuyin/) or Naram-Suʾin (/narām-tsuʾin/)". Other year names refer to his construction work on temples in
Akkad, Nippur, and
Zabala. He also built administrative centers at
Nagar and
Nineveh. In general it is not possible to assign an order to Naram-Sin's year name with the exception of his first "The year Naram-Sin received a weapon of heaven/An fr[om] the temple of the god Enlil". It is, however, possible to divide them into those before his deification and after that event (assumed to be shortly after the "Great Revolt") based on the presence of a godhood determinant in his name. During his reign Naram-Sin increased direct royal control of its city-states. He maintained control over the various city-states by the simple expedient of appointing some of his many sons as key provincial governors, and his daughters as high priestesses. He also reformed the scribal system. A few loyal local governors remained in place. This included
Meskigal, as governor of the city-state of
Adab and Karsum governor of the unlocated Niqqum (suggested to be modern
Khanaqin). Another was
Lugal-ushumgal of
Lagash. Several inscriptions of Lugal-ushumgal, who went on to serve the successor of Naram-Sin,
Shar-Kali-Sharri, are known, particularly seal impressions, which refer to him as governor of Lagash and at the time a vassal (,
arad, "servant" or "slave") of Naram-Sin.
The Great Revolt The pivotal event of Naram-Sin's reign was a widespread revolt against the Akkadian Empire. The empire created by his grandfather, Sargon, first ruler of the Akkadian Empire stretched in the west to Syria in places like
Tell Brak and
Tell Leilan, to the east in Elam and associated polities in that region, to southern Anatolia in the north, and to the "lower sea" in the south encompassing all the traditional Sumerian powers like Uruk, Ur, and Lagash. All of these political entities had long histories as independent powers and would periodically re-assert their interests throughout the lifetime of the Akkadian Empire. At some point in his reign a widespread uprising occurred, a large coalition of city-states led by Iphur-Kis of
Kish (Sumer) and Amar-Girid of
Uruk, joined by Enlil-nizu of
Nippur, and including the city-states of "
Kutha, TiWA, Sippar,
Kazallu, Kiritab, [Api]ak and GN" as well as "Amorite [hi]ghlanders". The rebellion was joined by the city of
Borsippa, among others. We know of these events from a number of Old Babylonian copies of earlier inscriptions as well as one contemporary record from the Old Akkadian period. The
Bassetki Statue, discovered in 1974, was the base of a life-sized copper statue of Naram-Sin. It reads: In the aftermath, Naram-Sin deified himself as well as posthumously deifying Sargon and Manishtushu but not his uncle Rimush. The echoes of the revolt were reflected in later Sumerian literary compositions such as the
Great Revolt against Naram-Sin, "Naram-Sin and the Enemy Hordes" and "Gula-AN and the Seventeen Kings against Naram-Sin".
Control of Elam in the east, to
Ebla and
Armanum in the west Elam came under the domination of
Akkad in the time of
Sargon though it remained restive. The 2nd ruler of Akkad, Rimush,
campaigned there afterward adding "conqueror of Elam and Parahsum" to his royal titulary. The 3rd ruler, Manishtushu, conquered the city of
Anshan in
Elam and also the city of
Pashime, installing imperial governors in those places. This suggests that these governors of Elam were officials of the Akkadian Empire. Naram-Sin exercised great influence over Susa during his reign, building temples and establishing inscriptions in his name, and having the Akkadian language replace Elamite in official documents. An unknown Elamite king (sometimes speculated to be
Khita) is recorded as having signed a peace treaty, in Old Elamite language written in an Old Akkadian ductus, with Naram-Sin (not deified in the text), stating: "The enemy of Naram-Sin is my enemy, the friend of Naram-Sin is my friend". Old Elamite is poorly understood (all other texts being very short) as yet making interpretation of the text challenging. The text mentions about twenty gods, mostly Elamite but with a few Sumerian and Akkadian, including
Inshushinak,
Humban,
Nahiti,
Simut, and
Pinikir. It has been suggested that the formal treaty allowed Naram-Sin to have peace on his eastern borders, so that he could deal more effectively with the threat from
Gutium.
Conquest of Armanum and Ebla The conquest of
Armanum (location unknown but proposed as
Tall Bazi) with its ruler Rid-Adad and
Ebla (55 kilometers southwest of modern Aleppo) by Naram-Sin (Ebla was also defeated by his grandfather Sargon) is known from one of his year names "The year the king went on a campaign in Amarnum" and from an Old Babylonian copy of a statue inscription (IM 85461) found at
Ur. There are also three objects, a marble lamp, a stone plaque, and a copper bowl, inscribed "Naram-Sin, the mighty, king of the four quarters, conqueror of Armanum and Ebla.". In 2010 a new stele fragment (IM 221139) describing the campaign was found at
Tulul al-Baqarat (thought to be the ancient city of
Kesh.
Children Among the known sons of Naram-Sin were his successor
Shar-Kali-Sharri, Nabi-Ulmaš, who was governor of
Tutub, and a Ukin-Ulmash. Excavations at
Tell Mozan (ancient Urkesh) brought to light a sealing of Tar'am-Agade, a previously unknown daughter of Naram-Sin, who was possibly married to an unidentified
endan (ruler) of Urkesh. A recently found cylinder seal, looted from
Urasagrig, shows that the governor there, Sharatigubishin, was also a son. Other known children include Enmenana the "zirru priestess of the god Nanna, spouse of the god N[anna], entu priestess of the god Sin at Ur", Šumšani ēntum-priestess of
Shamash at Sippar, a son who was governor at Marad, an unnamed daughter who was ēntum-priestesses at Nippur, Bin-kali-šarrē, Lipit-ilē (governor at
Marad), Rigmuš-ālsu, Me-Ulmaš, and Ukēn-Ulmaš and a granddaughter Lipus-ia-um who was known to have been a lyre player for the god Sin. One daughter, Tuṭṭanabšum (Tudanapšum), held the position of high priestess of Enlil at Nippur, the most important religious position in the empire. She was also deified, the only female and only non-king to be made a god. ==Victory Stele of Naram-Sin==